Fluid motor



June 19, 1945. M. H. LOUGHRIDGE FLUID MOTOR Filed Jan. 24, 1940 Iliff. l /IH vENToR.

Patented June 19, 1945 PATENT raies FLUID Mo'roR Matthew H. Loughriage, Bogota, N. J.; William a.

Loughridge, deceased Lockridge administrator of said Matthew H.

Application January 24, 1940, Serial No. 315,300

1o Claims.

This invention relates to control and selective apparatusand the method of operating the same and particularly to a novel type of fluid motor used in connection therewith, and is intended for general use. The invention includes a stator or stationary part and a rotor or moving part, in which the rotor may be driven by a fluid pressure impeller supplied with pressure from the stator and the selective operation is obtained by stopping the rotor in any predetermined position4 by the operation of a key or other system of control. The stopping effect is produced by an air jet between the stator and the rotor and for this purpose the stator is provided with a plurality of radially arranged air conduitsand the rotor is provided with a single air nozzle which registers with each of the air conduits or nozzles'of` the stator as it rotates. As soon as the nozzle of the rotor aligns with the nozzle of the stator, which is supplied with iiuid pressure, rthe uid jet stops the'rotor and holds itk in this position until the flow to the jet ceases. The system operates with air pressure or with hydraulic pressure according to the purpose to which it is applied. Its operation will be understood by considering that a fluid pressure jet has inertia and has direction. When the jet is forced through a nozzle it acquires the direction of the nozzle and after it leaves the nozzle it i resists efforts to change its direction, hence, when the nozzle of the rotor aligns with the nozzle of the stator 'the pressurejetV ilows in a straight line through the combined nozzles andits inertia resists any movementfof therotor thattakes ity out of this aligned position. 'When hydraulic iluid `is used to operate the system the jet has a much greater yresistance than an airjetwould have and is `capable'fof controlling a heavier mechanism. 'I'his provides a' driving force and a vstoppingiorce between the stator and the rotor without mechanical connections and enables these forces' to be applied ina variety of Ways Without complicating the apparatus.

This invention maybe applied to the same* general usesy as that shown in application Serial No. 282,833, viiled July 4, 1939, and adapted forr electric operation. i

The invention will be more particularly understood from the following specification and the accompanying ldrawing, showing the' principles of oper-ation and a variety of applications, Jand, inwhich: D" y.'

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of-a stator and rotor arrangedlfor pneumatic operation according to theinvention;

(Cl. 25g- 1),

r, Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5--5 of Fig. 2;

and

f Fig. 6 is a diagram, partly sectioned, showing the controlling system;

Fig. '7` is a sectional detail, modified from lo Fig. 2.

The system comprises a stator and a rotor forming a iiuid motor and by means of air pressure the rotor is driven in either* direction and by means of an air jet it is stopped in any predetermined position. The driving action is secured by a turbine construction between the stator and the rotor in which air is applied through the stator to act upon vanes n the rotor to drive it in one direction, and air from another conduit in the stator is arranged-to apply air pressure to the vanes of the rotor in the opposite direction, thereby securing a reverse drive.

The stator is provided with a Anumber of radially spaced air jets, through each of which a stream of air may be forced. This air stream is applied to a channel in the rotor which has a smoothvinterior except at the reference point where an aperture is provided through the rotor that registers vwith each of the jets in the stator as the rotor rotates. Only one jet can be energized by an air stream at a time so that as soon as the aperture of the rotor registers with an energized jet the air stream is suiiiciently powerful to stop the rotor and hold it in this registering position.

The air conduits to the stator are controlled by the keys of a keyboard so that only one conduitmay-be open to the air supply at a time. The'control includes a reversing valve whereby air pressure `may' be applied to either of the propelling conduits of the air turbine and thus enabling the rotor to be driven in either direction by the operation of this Valve. The control system may, further, embody a regulating valve operated by the back pressure of the air system supplied to the air jets for cutting off the air supply to the driving turbine when stop conditions are established.

The system is fully reversible in its structure and'operation .and is so contemplated in the specification and claims.

In the drawing, Figs. 1 to 6, Il is the stator disc which is provided with a central boss l2 upon which therotor disc I4 is mounted through the balll bearings I5. The rotor disc I4 carries-the rotor or rim I6 which is spaced by the air gap I 1 from the stator I3, supported on disc Rotor I6 is provided with the annular channel I8 which has the aperture I9 at the reference point, which aperture corresponds in diameter with the diameter of the conduits 25, through which the air jet for stopping the rotor is provided. The aperture I9 is provided with a counterbored orifice 2| adjacent to the conduit 25 so that the air jet is collected by the orice 2| and passes through the orice I9 in a straight line from the conduit 25 and thereby aligns I9 with 25 and holds themV in this position while the air jet is continued. The flared opening at 2| engages the pressure jet when I9 is out of alignment with the nozzle 25 to bring the nozzle into alignment. When the nozzles 25 and |9 are aligned the pressure jet passes straight through without obstruction, as would occur when the rotor is stationary. Any movement of the rotor in either direction from this position engages the walls of the flared opening 2| with the pressure jet and restores alignment. The air supplied through any one of the conduits 25 is received in the channel I8 and is free to return on all of the other conduits 25 which are open until their keys are operated. In order to retard the motion of I6, if it is operating at speed as it approaches the reference point, the conduit I8 is formed on an inclined plane indicated at 20. This produces a damping action on the rotation of I6, as it approaches the stop'- ping position. Stopping the rotor by aligning the nozzles so that the pressure jet has a straight passage in the rotor and stator has been referred to -as a locking engagement which implies that these parts are rigidly held together to the extent oi the force supplied by the pressure jet.

The rotor I6 has a channel 22 which is provided with cross vanes or blades 23, Figs. 3 and 4. The stator I3 is provided with a channel 36 which connects with the air pipe 39 and with another channel 31 which connects with the air pipe 40. As shown in the drawing these channels are made on the face of the stator and are covered by the annular plate 38. The outer channel 36 is provided with a series of inclined apertures 42 aligning with the channel 22, Fig. 4, thereby providing an `air blast from 36 through each channel acting upon the vanes 23 as a turbine to drive the rotor in one direction. The inner channel 31 connects by the inclined passages 4|, Fig. 3, with the channel 22 to provide an impelling air force acting upon the vanes 23 from the ,air in channel 31. It will be noted from Figs. 3

and 4 that the direction of the air conduits 42v is reversed with respect to the air conduits 4| with the result that the air delivered by the tube 39 drives the rotor in one direction as indicated by the arrow 34 and the air delivered to tube 40 drives the rotor in the opposite direction as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3.

A three-way Valve 43 controls the air supply from the pipe 44 to the tubes 39 and 40. When the valve is in the position shown in the drawing, Fig. 6, air is supplied to tube 40 and is cut off from tube 39 and when the valve 43 receives a quarter turn in the direction of the arrow, air is out off from tube 40 and supplied to tube 39, thereby reversing the direction of the drive by the operation of valve 43.

' .Air may be supplied from an air compressor indicated by 29 and driven by motor 30 and supplied to the air pipe 28. This air is fed through a restricted orice 21 to the pipe 26 which connects to the row of control pipes 25, through a valve 3| provided on each pipe. This is a threeway valve which, in the normal position, exhausts each pipe 25 through a port 32a, but when the keys or operating member 3| is depressed, the valve 32 is rotated for a quarter-turn to shut o the exhaust 32a and to connect thepipe 25 with the air supply pipe 26. In the operation of the system only one key or valve is operated at a time and before a second keyis operated the previous key is returned to its normal position in any suitable manner, as by a restoring spring on the key itself or by an interlocking plate provided for this purpose between the keys, both of which arrangements are commonly used for this purpose and therefore not shown in the drawing.

In Fig. 6, to the left, a pair of keys or valves 32 and 33 are shown connecting the air pipe 26 with the air conduit 25'. When the valves are in the position shown the air flows through valve 33, pipe 34 and valve 32 to pipe 25'. When valve 32 is restored to its normal position, pipe 35 is connected with 25 and when valve 33 is operated pipe 26 is connected with 35 and pipe 34 is cut o. Inthis application both keys or valves 32 and 33 operate the system to stop the rotor in the same place. That is, each of these keys produce a corresponding result or total and bring the rotor into the proper registering position for these totals.

The application of the system enables a relatively powerful air blast to be used in the nozzle which is used for stopping the rotor and this air blast can be designed to stop the rotor while the impeller is in operation. In some cases, however, it may be desirable to shut off the impelling force if the rotor is to be retained in the selected position in which it was stopped. One method of securing this result is obtained by the valve 4'5 which controls the air supply between 28 and 44. This valve is controlled by a piston 41, acting against a spring 48, which holds the piston valve 46 in position to blank the ports from the air pipe 28 to pipe 44. When, however, air pressure is supplied to pipe 49 to act on piston 41 against spring 48, the piston valve 46 is raised and thereby connects the air supply to pipe 44. When the system is in its normal position, with all the keys 3| closed to the air supply pipe 36, air pressure is built up in pipe 49 to open valve'46 and to supply air to the driving conduits 39 or 48, thereby providingr continuous rotation for the rotor.

When any of the keys 3| is operated, an air outlet is provided on pipe 26, through pipe 25, to the nozzle in the stator and to the annular groove I8 in the rotor. This air can escape freely and without obstruction when the nozzle in the stator registers with the nozzle I9 in the rotor. At other times the`air does notfhave a free passage from the nozzle of the stator but instead meets with a retarding condition in the groove I8 as it is dissipated through the air gap I1, or back through the other conduits 25 to the open valves which control these conduits. When the nozzle of the stator and the rotor are in register the air pressure in pipe 26 is reduced to a greater extent than it can be supplied through the restricted passage 21 and this reduction in air pressure, in tube 49 enables the spring 48 to close the valve 46 of 45 and thereby shut off the supply of air for driving the rotor. When the air through the nozzle from the pipe 25 does not have a free passage the back pressure established under these conditions operates to open valve 46 and to permit the driving force to act on the rotor until it is brought into the registering position. If it `is desired to increase the stopping force, the arrangement in Fig. 7 may be adopted in which a 'pair of nozzles is brought intoy the stopping position at-thesame time and controlled'by the same key. in the stator I3 registers with the nozzle Isa in the rotor v'I6 in parallel with the nozzles 25 and yI9 to producean increased stopping eiect.

The fundamental principles of the invention are illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 and one mode of op- For'this purpose the additional nozzle 25a,

eration'is shown in Fig; 6. l The actual application' 'off the invention for any specic purpose must be designed for each particular use. Ify the 'system isto be applied to a' registering device that selectively registers marks in accordance with the operation of the keys, it may be arranged to operate by suction instead of air pressure fordriving the rotor and the rotor may be provided with radially spaced blades 23l in the groove 22, adapted to be propelled by air force in either, direction.

the rotor is avoided.

' When the system is 'adapted to operate'rela-` tively heavy mechanisms, such 'as may be used in textile machines, or in machine tools for positioning turret lheads and the like, the'driving force and the stopping force should be increased andthe use of of hydraulic fluid pressure rinstead of air pressure may insome cases be desirable and is fully contemplated by the invention.

The operation of the system depends upon the pressures used to accelerate speed in the driving and reliability in the stopping and it depends upon the shape of the, nozzles which should be designed fory the particular pressures contemplated. In the application of the stopping effect it should be noted that in the stator I3 the nozzle 25 is provided and in the rotor IB the nozzle I9 is provided which when aligned form a single nozzle for the air jet in a straight passage between these parts. e

It should be noted that the stopping effect has no tendency to drive the rotor in either direction and is not lin any sense a reverse drive. The

moving part is moving at right angles to the direction of the jet and when the jet is completed throughl the aperture of the moving part, this part is stopped and is locked in position by the jet. The jet is projected from a iixed nozzle and registers with a particular part of the rotor so that the rotor is stopped in a particular position.

Fluid pressure driven impellers have long been in use for a variety of purposes. In theserdevices the fluid pressure from the nozzle is either intercepted or deflected from its straight ycourse and thereby causes motion, the motion is usually stopped by stopping the flow through the nozzle. By using a pair of nozzles deected in opposite directions the impeller may be driven in opposite directions. If the impeller is driven the fluid discharged thereby through a tortuous passage retards the movement of the impeller.

" In this invention any type of impeller may be used for driving the rotor and vof course if the impelling fluid is shut oif the rotor will stop, but it will not stop at a predetermined, selectedposition, further, it will not stop until its momentum has been expended.

It is the purpose of the in- Other constructions equivalent to the radial con-A ventiont'oprovide Vfor driving the rotor, starting at any position and tostop'it at selected posi-v tions by'the application of fluid pressure from a jet that does not produce a driving effect, but instead producesionly the moving partv to the xed part as long as the pressure jet is maintained. For this'purpose; in the stopped position the fluid pressure jet is not impeded ordeflected to cause motion', instead it is maintained in a straight line in the direction in which .it is projected and when the nozzle of the rotor yintercepts this straight line the pressure jet resists its movement ineither direction.

A simple way of securing this result is showny in the drawingin which the nozzles are arranged' radially in the stator and give a radial direction tothe yfluid jet; the nozzle in the rotor is also arranged radially so that ras it rotates it aligns with each nozzle of the stator, makinga straight noz! zle for the iiuid jet through both the stator and the rotor. The force of this jetI when the nozzles register` stops the vrotor andholdsit in this position as long as the fluidA pressure is continued.

struction are'likely to'be used and are fully contemplated thereby,l especially where the motion is linear instead of rotary. The essential requirement isthat the nozzle Lof :the moving part register with the nozzle projecting the fluid pressure and that the former nozzle does not change the direction of the projected iiui'd.' I

The fluid pressure from the'xed nozzle gradually spreads out and loses its' force as it leaves the nozzle. This isproportional tothe pressure with which the fluid is'projected.y .The nozzle I9 in the rotor is substantially'the same size as the nozzles 25, but if the pressure 'is relatively low, or Iif I9 is spaced a considerable'distance. from the nozzles 25 it vis apparentthat Vin this case I9 should bev larger in area than 25..l

The air gap between the vstator and rotor is used in the same sensev as theiair'gap between the armature and its field `in an electric generator.

' There is no mechanical drive between the stator and the rotor and there is no mechanical connection between the stator and the rotor to stop the rotor. It is apparent that Lthe smaller the air gap the greater will be the efliciency of the fluid pressure stopping system.

The illustrations are mostly in diagram form, the mechanical construction admits of a variety of forms owing to the flexibility of the pneumatic operation. The system of control should be adapted to the particular use of the apparatus required and need not necessarily follow the illustrations shown. 1

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A fluidmotor comprising a stator, a rotor rotating about said stator, means for driving said rotor, a plurality of fluid vpressure nozzles in said stator, a single corresponding nozzle in said rotor stator as it rotates, a source of fluid pressure and means controlling said fluid pressure to each nozzle in the stator and the nozzle in the rotor to stop the rotor when the nozzles are inr alignment.

2. A fluid motor comprising a stator, a rotor rotating about said stator, means for driving said rotor in both directions, nozzles in said stator and a singlecorresponding nozzle in said rotor registering and aligning with the nozzles in the vstator as it rotates, and means for stopping the rotor by fluid pressure in the registering nozzles.

3. A fluid motor comprising a-stator, a rotor, means for driving said rotor to rotate it about ay stopping effect and locks with, llienozzle of'snid st or, 'n

elle, sister.. onli e plurielles oi nreelle @ed menne in. eolie si los looelen ,rfoiilellszand lll. solo lilloio.. l L in e Y- ofi i stelo; In los one lire one ineens for deinethe.

. .oli'oleelgee' n'resslne soonlr, e 'iniev'velve trolling. solo linie. nii-essere soeoly .lo een ,llrlvine nozzles lo .drive sein roto.A fn e. er elireotion; and, Ineens for sllnlilvinelloin. nl., elimine nozzles testen seid rotoli A fluid motor' and. oonlrol system ooniprielne .n slnlor llev'lne n nozzlev n"`rolor eolienne about seid stelo? end lionnee nozzle ellen for seid rotem finie' niessie elle v, e" ooniliil from said supply tov seid aligning nozzles, e veli/fev ine vini lne nozzle oi i.

and the member e, L )s ,l ineens for driving solo ovine in. inner eine ineens for nnolvinefiole nresslilre los'ni'enozzles. lo ook inem ioeellfler when they ie .leen solo. lille prese sllre ineens beine inefleotlve' in retnrellne. eine movement until the'nozzles come into register;

'le n linie motor one eo svsoein eolnnrlsine n Pell? of inelnloes selon lled n e ein een eno lnoveble relntlve'io enen'. einen ille 'elienine BEST AVAILABLE CPY nozzles in one oi. lnenlbfere enen, bovine n oorlieiiler oiieeilon' n nozzle in elle olllel meer b er having the same direction es the nozzles in tlie rst member. audregistering with each of the nozzles in the first vmerxrlpeif. lilly Said relative movement, a. ypressure. fluid, 'sind a; vallve'oontrolling. Vsaid pressure fluid to'eoli nozzle toy force tlfe'U pressure fluid Vthrollgh the registering nozzles toy stop the relative'movement predetermined positionl 8. A lluid motor comprising a, pair of members seperated by an air gap end movable. relative tp eeen other, means in one of seidmembers for projecting a uid pressure jet in at predetermined direction, a nozzle in the other member corre-A registering with the nozzle ln. lille. 'nlsli niennloierI nnd having the same dlreelion ne. lille 'nozzle in the first member and having a' tapering orioe opening towards the nozzle in the first member and means for forcing a fluid pressure jet through said nozzles to hold them. in resisten. f

lil.- e illn'd motoren@ Control system oolnnrlsing a, stator, e rotor rotat'ing aboutsaid stator, a nozzle in said stator, e, nozzle in s'aifrotor regisienne and ellenine in. olreelion Willi' ille. nozzle in said stator, e. pressure fluid supply, e 'eonduit eonneoline enlsl. Silonlv vvllll one o'f e lol nozzles to, sion one rotor nnnr of. 'lnoleloenolenl' valves in seid. .eoneillit oonllolline seid. .sillzfelr enden nrrnneeel lllni bolli 'valves moet vbe in n 'predetermined Position. to eslelolisli olle oonneollon lo Sello. condon. 

